Pray for Your Pastor

The work and calling of a local church pastor is a huge, heaven-sized responsibility with eternal implications. The work and calling of a local church pastor can be a wonderful life marked by joy.

Every pastor I know senses the responsibility, longs for the joy—and wants to be a good pastor.

And every church I knows wants a good pastor who serves with joy and fulfills that responsibility.

The only way both desires are fulfilled is through prayer. If you want a good pastor, you’ll have to pray him into it.

Why do you need to pray for your pastor—and what do you pray? Let me share what I shared with my own faith family last week. Hear your own pastor’s voice as he pleads..

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…I am a disciple of Jesus, who still has a long way to go in growth in Christ-likeness. A pastor is to be a Jesus-saturated man.

So pray: that I will maintain a primary passion for and intimacy with Jesus.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…my family needs me to be who God has called me to be at home. A pastor is to be a family man—husband and dad—first.

So pray: that I will love, be fully present with and serve my family with joy.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…the gospel of Jesus can too easily be pushed aside by pragmatic concerns. A pastor is to be a gospel-centered man.

So pray: that I will never get over Jesus’ stunning mercy to me in a bloody cross and an empty tomb.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because… the enemy will try to snare me with temptation to compromise integrity or pursue impurity– and crush me. A pastor is to be a holy man.

So pray: that I will trust in Jesus’ gospel more than sin’s deceitful promise and guard my soul from sin.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…I need to be more filled with the Spirit than I am with myself. A pastor is to be a Spirit-filled man.

So pray: that I will be a man of dependent prayer who is consistently filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 5:18)

+ Pray for me as your pastor because… it’s too easy to fall for the myth of pastoral indispensability and live as if it all depends on me. A pastor is to be a “part of the Body of Christ” man. (1 Cor. 12:12-27)

So pray: that I will have faith to believe Jesus’ promise to grow His church through the gospel by the Body of Christ in the power of the Spirit.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…the ministry of the Word takes time, prayer and concentration. A pastor is to be a man of the Word in preaching, counsel and spiritual direction.

So pray: that I will maintain discipline necessary for significant study and prayerful thought over God’s Word. (Note: will you especiallypray for me to have the Spirit’s help and unction in preaching as you come to worship on Sunday mornings?)

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…leadership is always a challenge, but especially in the greatest cause with eternal implications. A pastor is to be a tender servant-leader.

So pray: that I will lead with a shepherd’s love and a servant’s heart.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…ministry decisions with forever impact require supernatural wisdom. A pastor is to be a wise, ears-tuned-to-heaven, man

So pray: that I have godly, Word-rooted wisdom—and know how to apply it.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…ministry means engaging mess, doing hard things, and pursuing reconciliation. A pastor is to be a healer, both in the brokenness of the world and in Christ’s church.

So pray: that I will have the courage to walk in where others flee and liveout God’s hope when others despair.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…people in our community are lost and going to hell—and it’s too easy to stay busy with already saved church folk. A pastor is to “do the work of an evangelist.”

So pray: that I will have an urgent love for and genuine connection with far-from-God people.

+ Pray for me as your pastor because…God has more and bigger plans for our church than we know. A pastor is to be a Kingdom man, beyond the borders of right now. (Eph.3:20-21)

So pray: that I, with my faith-family, will have ears to hear His heart and eyes to see His vision for us.

There will be more places to pray for your pastor as you consider his unique journey and story. But if you have a pastor…please copy this, keep it in your Bible– and pray!

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Am praying for you, your family and your church family and mission in Shelby County. May God Bless You in all you do and say. GBC is blessed with a wonderful Pastor and shares your concerns for the lost. The two of you have a great impact on this community.